Working on rental license. When should I start advertising?

[Joshua Hilliard]

I have a house that I am planning on renting out the basement. I'm still doing some last-minute renovating and getting my license together. I just heard recently that if I advertise now for a tenant in a few months that I can write off some of the renovations but if I wait it will be more complicated. My question is should I advertise now for a tenant for this summer even before I have my rental license or should I wait until after I have my rental license to advertise? Thank you for anyone that can add any advice on this matter.

[Aaron K.]

I am not an accountant, but to the best of my knowledge if you have no personal use of the unit after your renovations they should be either deductible or added to your depreciation basis allowing you to eventually write them off, regardless of when you start advertising.  The downside of advertising this early is that you have no pictures of the finished unit and by the time it is ready to go many people will look past it because it appears to have been on the market for a long time and people will assume that there is something wrong with it.